Choosing Your Diamond

How to Choose a Diamond

How to choose your diamond can be a daunting task. It seems that when researching this topic, there are lots of technical lingo and a sort of mystic haze about how they are priced. It can become so confusing, that many give up and blindly trust their local jeweler to lead them safely into a great purchase.

I don’t want to bore any one with technical jargon, but I will offer great links to authorities on this topic if you want to understand in more detail…. here we go.

First of all, be sure to check out my Canadian Arctic Ice diamonds; which are appraised by the Canadian Gemological Institute (replacement value) and certified to be 100% Canadian. They are also laser inscribed!

Did you know that between the sizes .01 carat- 1.00 carat there can be well over 7,500 choices of diamond qualities? Or did you know that with in any given size (diameter) there can be over 72 choices in quality (price)? Did you realize that within these 72 choices, that the price can increase well over 3x (for the same size!)?

All is not lost! Let me give you an easy to understand method of choosing which sort of diamond is right for you!

Three Basic Groups

I can generalize most of my cliental into 3 basic groups (those who can afford to ‘have their cake and eat it too’ I have purposely left out of this analogy!).

Those who will sacrifice quality for size

Those who value quality and will sacrifice size in order to afford it.

Those who just want a decent “rock” for a good price. PS. I have a great solution for this class of customer. check out myTrade-in and Upgrade option!

So which group do you generally fall into?

If you prefer people you bump into to say, “Wow, that’s HUGE!” … You probably fall into group 1.

If you want people coming over to you from across a gym and saying to you, “Wow, I saw your ring sparkle from 30 ft away!” … You probably fall into group 2. (I have had one customer, who bought 3 flawless, high end diamonds, tell me later that people from her church were coming over and commenting on the sparkle they saw from across the church).

If you would rather be low key, at the risk of not being noticed very often, then you probably are in group 3.

Yes I know, these are very general and in the real world we probably fall into the grey areas; be that as it may, here are my recommendations, for quality, for each group.

My Recommendations

To better understand the three characteristics (cut, colour, and clarity otherwise known as the 4c’s), please refer to this webpage from the Gemological Institute of America.

Group 1: CUT — good – fair; CLARITY — I1 – I3; COLOR — H – J

Group 2: CUT —ideal – excellent; CLARITY — FL – VS2; COLOR — D – F

Group 3: CUT — very good – good; CLARITY — SI1 – SI3; COLOR — G – H

Group 1 values size (carat) over quality, so by picking a lower quality diamond they can afford to bump up the size.

Group 2 values sparkle (quality) over size, so by picking a smaller stone they can afford the expensive, sparkly “rocks.”

Group 3 values good value. Probably sparkle AND size matter, but they are more intent on saving money, than choosing one above the other. You can ALWAYS upgrade later!

Ok, now we kind of know where our values lie, but how do we reconcile these values with our wallets? Do we have ‘champagne taste but on a beer budget’, or are we the type that is willing to sacrifice much in order to receive much? These are your personal questions that I can’t comment on, however, if you need help with financing, I do offer a payment plan that is totally flexible and does get the ‘ball rolling’.